Liverpool's conquerors set for tough night
The clubs that eliminated Manchester City and Liverpool collide in the Europa League this evening, while Benfica and PSV Eindhoven bid to bounce back from desperately disappointing weekends. Here's how we see those games going...
Benfica v PSV Eindhoven (Five)
A factor that can never be ignored is it being a good time to play a certain team. Schalke caught Inter at an ideal moment on Tuesday night, with the Nerazzurri fresh from a derby defeat that badly hurt their title chances, and there's a sense that Benfica and PSV are both there for the taking tonight too.
PSV surrendered top spot in the Eredivisie to FC Twente on Saturday with a 2-0 loss, while Benfica suffered an even more crushing blow, beaten 2-1 at home by Porto to be succeeded by their rivals as champions, the second successive game in which they failed to triumph in front of their fans.
Benfica are stuck in their worst form of 2011, so their status as [1.78] favourites is surprising and the [1.79] has to be judged attractive in the context of PSV's remarkable Europa League away record this season, for they have won four and drawn one of their last five on the road, scoring in each.
Dynamo Kiev v Sporting Braga
This could have been an all-Premier League clash between Manchester City and Liverpool had things panned out differently in the round-of-16, however the English duo will have to settle for a Premier League meeting on Monday rather than the three collisions in eight days that could have occurred.
Sporting Braga are rated, alongside FC Twente and Spartak Moscow as the biggest outsiders left in the competition at [19.0], yet while we have spoken fairly favourably about the latter two's prospects, we're not so hopeful for last year's Portuguese Liga runners-up.
Dynamo Kiev have played four home matches since Yuri Semin's return as manager and have been victorious in each without conceding, scoring 11 in the process, so given that Braga have fired just eight times in their last ten European ties, the hosts have to be fancied to win to nil at [2.5].
Agree? A £20 double backing Dynamo Kiev to triumph and laying Benfica against PSV provides a £48.20 profit using the Betfair Coupon...
Published: 7 Apr 2011
Leave a comment